A method and packet switched cellular telecommunication system wherein data flows from a terminal are aggregated into one or more multi protocol Label Switching (mpls) Label Switched Path (lsp) based on at least one criterion. In a first embodiment, the data flows are aggregated into lsp(s) based on a Quality of Service (QoS) class of each such data flows, by a network node, such as a Radio network Controller (RNC) or a Serving GPRS Support node (SGSN). In a second embodiment, the data flows or lsps are aggregated into another lsp(s) based on the destination routing area. The lsp aggregation is performed by an edge node of the routing area, such as a Gateway GPRS Support node (GGSN). In a first variant of the 2nd embodiment, the aggregation is used for macro-mobility, while in yet another variant the same aggregation is used for defining a virtual private network.
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1. A method for packet data transmission in a packet switched cellular telecommunications system, the method comprising the steps of:
receiving data flows in a network node of the packet switched cellular telecommunications system, the data flows comprising multi protocol-Label Switching (mpls) Label Switched Paths (lsps); and
aggregating said data flows into at least one mpls lsp based on at least one criterion comprising a destination routing area (RA) of the data flows;
wherein the network node is an edge node of a routing area of the packet switched cellular telecommunications system.
13. A packet switched cellular telecommunications system comprising:
a plurality of user equipments (UEs) generating data flows from a first routing area;
a network node receiving said data flows and aggregating said data flows into at least one multi protocol Label Switching (mpls) Label Switched Path (lsp) based on at least one criterion comprising a destination routing area of the data flows;
wherein the data flows are mpls lsps originating from the first routing area, wherein the mpls lsp data flows are aggregated into the at least one mpls lsp based on their destination routing area; and wherein the network node is an edge node of the first routing area of the packet switched cellular telecommunications system.
2. The method claimed in
wherein said data flows originate from user equipments (UEs) defining the QoS class for each one of said data flows; and
wherein data flows having the same QoS class are aggregated into the at least one mpls lsp.
3. The method claimed in
4. The method claimed in
5. The method claimed in
6. The method claimed in
7. The method claimed in
8. The method claimed in
initiating an UE inter-routing area handoff between the source routing area and a target routing area where the UE roams;
establishing an lsp tunnel between the source routing area and the target routing area; and
forwarding the data packets on the lsp tunnel from the source routing area to the target routing area.
10. The method claimed in
11. The method claimed in
receiving a packet of a data flow from said data flows at the edge node;
detecting a VPN Identity in said packet;
identifying a VPN associated with said VPN identity; and
routing said packet over said VPN.
12. The method claimed in
14. The system claimed in
each UE from the plurality of UEs defines a QoS class for each one of its generated data flows; and
wherein the at least one criterion comprises the Quality of Service (Qos) class associated with each one of said data flows, and wherein data flows having the same QoS class are aggregated into the at least one mpls lsp.
15. The system claimed in
a table of correspondence between the QoS class and a label of the at least one mpls lsp;
wherein the network node aggregates said data flows into the at least one mpls lsp based on said table of correspondence.
16. The system claimed in
17. The system claimed in
18. The system claimed in
19. The system claimed in
a table of correspondence between the destination RA and a label of the at least one mpls ISP;
wherein the GGSN aggregates said mpls lsps based on the table of correspondence between the destination routing and the label of the at least one mpls lsp.
20. The system claimed in
22. The system claimed in
23. The system claimed in
24. The system claimed in
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1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Third Generation (3G) cellular telecommunications systems, and in particular to a method and system for Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) based data flow aggregation in a 3rd Generation (3G) cellular telecommunications system.
2. Description of the Related Art
UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service) is a Third-Generation (3G), broadband, packet-based transmission of text, digitized voice, video, and multimedia at data rates up to 2 Megabits per second (Mbps) that offers a consistent set of services to mobile computer and phone users independently of their location in the world. Based on the Global System for Mobile (Global System for Mobile communication) communication standard, UMTS, endorsed by major standards bodies and manufacturers, is the planned standard for mobile users around the world. With UTMS, computer and phone users are constantly attached to the Internet as they travel and, through the roaming service, have the same set of capabilities no matter where they go. Especially at the beginning of UMTS deployment, users can have multi-mode mobile devices that switch to the locally available technology (such as GSM 900 and 1800) where UMTS is not yet available.
Today's cellular telephone systems are mainly circuit-switched, with connections always dependent on circuit availability. Packet-switched connection, using the Internet Protocol (IP) will also make possible to provide new services, such as alternative billing methods (pay-per-bit, pay-per-session, flat rate, asymmetric bandwidth, and others). The higher bandwidth of UMTS also promises new services, such as video conferencing. UMTS promises to realize the Virtual Home Environment in which a roaming user can have the same services to which the user is accustomed when at home or in the office, through a combination of transparent terrestrial and satellite connections.
UMTS is also planned to revolutionize operators network with better frequency efficiency and lower transport costs by utilizing Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) communications for both voice and data services, as defined for example in the Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Release 1999 Specifications: 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP TS 21.101 version 3.7.0, herein included by reference. UMTS is based on the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) core networking with its seamless high-speed delivery of data for point-to-point applications, which allows innovative services to be created. However, GPRS uses GPRS Tunnelling Protocol (GTP) to forward packets from the GGSNs (GPRS Gateway Service Nodes) to the SGSNs (Serving GPRS Service Nodes) in order to reach a mobile device, dynamically setting up communication tunnels between the GGSN and the mobile unit home network, and allowing the mobile unit to have its home network served beyond the GGSN Internet Gateway. But GTP is deficient in terms of session set-up and hand-off response time because of its complex plurality of primitives involved, as well as in terms of sessions' reliability due to the non-negligible probability of data routing failure during the communications sessions.
GTP includes both signalling (GTP-C for the Control Plane) and data payload (GTP-U for the Data Plane) transfer procedures. In the signalling plane, GTP-C specifies a tunnel control and management protocol that allows the SGSN to provide GPRS services for a mobile station with signalling that creates, modifies and deletes communications tunnels. For that purpose, the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) is used as the protocol for transferring signalling messages between GPRS service nodes. In the transmission plane, GTP-U uses a tunnelling mechanism to carry user data packets. The whole specification for GTP can be found in the Release 1999 Specifications: 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP—Technical Specification TS29.060, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS); GPRS Tunneling Protocol across the Gn and Gp interface, herein included by reference.
Reference is now made to
Also detrimental to the normal operation of GPRS-based networks is the transfer of user data packets during a mobile terminal hand-off (intra or inter GGSN). Reference is now made to
Although there is no prior art solution as the one proposed hereinafter for solving the above-mentioned deficiencies, the Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology, described in the request for Comments RFC 3031, bears some relation with the field of the present invention, by aiming at achieving fast and simple forwarding of IP traffic. In MPLS, routing information is signalled between neighbouring nodes and a group of virtual paths known as Label Switched Paths (LSP) are established between the edges of the MPLS network. In MPLS, a packet flow is classified or labelled by an MPLS network's entry node onto an LSP that will adequately direct the packet flow towards the exit node, and will also forward the packet data flow toward the destination. Each MPLS node that participates in the LSP is known as a Label Switched Router (LSR). Each LSR along the LSP has an incoming and outgoing labels binding that represent the routing information at each LSR and indicate the forwarding direction as well as forwarding behaviour to be applied to the packet flow. The incoming and outgoing labels for each LSR therefore act as shorthand for routing, and are pre-signalled between neighbouring nodes through special protocols such as Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) [RFC 3036]. LSR packet flow forwarding in that scenario becomes a simple label lookup and swapping (changing incoming to outgoing labels) operations, rather than best prefix match as in traditional routing. When the packet flow reaches the exit node of the MPLS network, the packet flow is unlabelled and forwarded toward the destination point.
Some extensions to existing routing protocols have been proposed to enable explicit routing in MPLS networks such as traffic engineering extensions to RSVP (RSVP-TE) and Constraint Routing LDP (CR-LDP). The main goal of explicit routing is to have only one destination for each entering packet bringing the logic of path establishment to the network's edges. Packets are classified at the edge into their explicit path and do not need to carry the explicit routing information as in traditional IP networks. Those extensions fill the objective of traffic engineering to avoid over-utilizing certain paths for traffic forwarding while other paths in the network remain under-utilized.
While MPLS simplifies forwarding of IP data, it does not provide QoS. In fact, MPLS nodes do not take any QoS parameters into account for the forwarding of packets, but rather interpret each packet's label to forward it accordingly.
Accordingly, it should be readily appreciated that in order to overcome the deficiencies and shortcomings of the existing solutions, it would be advantageous to have a method and system for effectively supporting data communications in a GPRS/UMTS cellular telecommunications network. The present invention provides such a method and system.
In one aspect, the present invention is a method for packet data transmission in a packet switched cellular telecommunications system, the method comprising the steps of:
In another aspect, the present invention is a packet switched cellular telecommunications system comprising:
For a more detailed understanding of the invention, for further objects and advantages thereof, reference can now be made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 3.a is an exemplary high-level network diagram of the preferred embodiment of the present invention showing the data flows aggregation into Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) Label Switched Paths (LSPs);
FIG. 3.b shows a simplified network diagram schematically illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention;
The innovative teachings of the present invention will be described with particular reference to various exemplary embodiments. However, it should be understood that this class of embodiments provides only a few examples of the many advantageous uses of the innovative teachings of the invention. In general, statements made in the specification of the present application do not necessarily limit any of the various claimed aspects of the present invention. Moreover, some statements may apply to some inventive features but not to others. In the drawings, like or similar elements are designated with identical reference numerals throughout the several views.
The present invention provides a method and system for data transmission based on the Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) for use within mobile systems that may be based on the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network architecture, wherein GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) is partly or totally replaced by MPLS' Label Switched Paths (LSPs). MPLS is a standards-approved technology for speeding up network traffic flow and making it easier to manage. MPLS involves setting up a specific path for a given sequence of data packets, identified by a label put in each packet, thus saving the time needed for a router to look up the address to the next node to forward the packet to. MPLS works with the Internet Protocol (IP) at layer 3, Asynchronous Transport Mode (ATM), and frame relay network protocols at layer 2, respectively (and other L2 technologies including Ethernet, Packet over Sonet etc.). With reference to the standard model for a network (the Open Systems Interconnection, or OSI model), MPLS allows most packets to be forwarded at the layer 2 (switching) level rather than at the layer 3 (routing) level. In addition to moving traffic faster overall, MPLS makes it easier to manage a network for Quality of Service (QoS). The present invention further provides a network architecture wherein the LSP is provided for both data micro-flows and aggregated flows, which are setup, maintained and torn down using the label distribution protocol (LDP). LDP defines a means by which Label Switched Routers (LSRS) establish LSPs through a network by mapping network layer routing information directly to the link layer switched paths. This is accomplished using labels, which create a simple forwarding paradigm. A critical element in assigning a label is that the device, which will be using the label to forward packets, will be forwarding all packets with the same label in the same way. LDP distributes labels over the MPLS network by associating certain local labels between different label peers. It uses routing information (or information resources via the control plane) to bind labels to a certain forwarding equivalence class (FEC).
According to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention, User Equipment (UE) generated data flows are aggregated into one or more MPLS LSPs based on a pre-defined criterion or criteria. With respect to the data flows, it is a know fact that each user application of an UE, such as for example the web-browsing, may create multiple data flows, one for the imaging, one for the text transfer, one for the background etc. The data flows received from the UEs via a series of Base Stations (BSs) are aggregated at the level of a network node, such as for example by a Radio Network Controller (RNC) or by a serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), preferably based on a specific criterion, such as for example the Quality of Service (QoS) class associated with each one of the data flows. Thus, according to the invention, data flows having the same QoS requirement, for example “QoS class=video streaming”, are aggregated by the network node into one or more LSPs dedicated to video streaming, which is further sent toward the destination of the traffic using that (these) LSP(s).
According to another preferred embodiment of the invention, data flows under the form of MPLS LSPs, that may or may not have been treated according to the above-indicated first preferred embodiment of the invention, are aggregated into another one or more MPLS LSPs based on another criterion or criteria. The present aggregation may also provide for the macro mobility, and may combine traffic from one or more RNCs before the traffic gets into the IP backbone or a transit network on its way to a different routing area. An Egde Node of the originating routing area aggregates MPLS LSPs into one or more other LPSs based on the identity of the destination area of the original data flows. Thus, all the traffic between the originating routing area and a given destination area is aggregated into the one or more LSP(s).
According to the invention, existing signaling plane for the GTP may be replaced by signaling based on the Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP), and/or the Label Distribution Protocol (LDP), which is used to establish the MPLS' LSPs.
Referring now to
With reference being further made to FIG. 3.a, when a call session is set-up between an MT 102 served by a BS 108 controlled by an RNC 114 of routing area A 122, and another MT of the routing area B 124, such as for example using the 3GPP TS 23.207 v 5.4.0, July 2002, “End-to-End QoS Concept and Architecture, a network node, such as for example the network node 114 of the routing area A 122 receives the data flows of the communication from the MT 102. Depending upon the type of communication application run by the MT 102, each data flow originated by the application run by the MT 102 has an associated Quality of Service (QoS) class identifying a requirement for a specific QoS. For example, MT 102 may run a video-conferencing application that originates different data flows for i) video streaming, ii) sound, and ii) text, with each such data flow having associated a QoS class, such as for example as shown in following table:
Data Flow
QoS Class
Class Description
Video
1
Best (Real-Time)
Sound
2
Best (Real-Time)
Text
3
Normal (Best-Effort)
In a similar manner, all MTs 104-106, as well as the other MTs served by the same network node 114 generate data flows 113, as illustrated in FIG. 3.b, the data flows being received by the network node 114.
Reference is now made to
Reference is now made to
FIG. 3.b shows a simplified network diagram illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention. Once the data flows 113 are aggregated into the one or more LSPs 117, the LSP(s) 117 transport(s) the data flows toward the Edge Node 142 of the routing area of origin 122. Shown in FIG. 3.b is also another network node 118, that may perform similar aggregation of data flows 113′ it receives, into one or more LSPs 117′, as does the network node 114.
According to the preferred embodiment of the invention, the aggregation of data flows 113 may be preferably performed by a network node 114 that may be a Radio Network Controller (RNC) or a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) of the originating routing area A 122.
With reference being now further made to FIG. 3.a, a second preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described. Once the data flows 113 are aggregated into MPLS LSPs 117 and 117′, the LSP traffic destined to other routing areas than the originating routing area 122 is sent to the Edge Node 142 of the originating routing area 122, where LSPs that are destined to the same destination routing area are aggregated into another one or more LSPs, which is dedicated to communications with only that destination routing area.
The steps of the second preferred embodiment of the present invention are shown in
Reference is now made to
With reference being now made back to FIG. 3.b, the Edge Node 142 aggregates the incoming LSPs 117 and 117′ based on the destination routing area, thus creating LSPs like the LSP 706 that is destined to only one given destination routing area.
It is to be noted that the aggregation described herein according to the second preferred embodiment of the invention may be performed both on data flows, or on LSPs first treated according to the first preferred embodiment of the invention or not. Thus, any kind of data flows or LSPs may be received and aggregated by the Edge Node 142 based on the destination routing area criterion as described.
With reference to FIG. 3.a, a Traffic Engineering-Configuration Management System (TE-CMS) 150 may be used to find the minimal working topology that is optimized through re-iteration of resource-management topology requests (deriving information from a feedback loop). As the routing of the backbone network defines IP-routes for the Level-2 aggregated Flows, the TE-CMS 150 may read the routing topologies from Ingress/Egress Router Databases. Based upon this topology information and the state of routing areas interconnections, the TE-CMS 150 determines, for example by means of least-cost and least-delay mechanisms, the best LSPs to be allocated between the origin routing area A 122 and the destination routing areas, with a plurality of paths associated with different cost/delay characteristics. Finally, the TE-CMS 150 provides the concluding best path(s) to the Ingress/Egress routers based on QoS Code Points that specify the requested quality of service parameters for the current call session.
Reference is now made to
The present scenario implements the 2nd preferred embodiment of the invention related to the LSP aggregation based on the destination routing area criterion. Thus, in the context of the present exemplary scenario, it is the Ingress router 128 that acts as an Edge Node of the transit network 126 and provides for the aggregation of data flows or LSPs into the one or more LSPs based on the destination routing area criterion, and not the IGSN functionality as described beforehand. It is to be noted that the 2nd preferred embodiment of the invention relate to the aggregation of data flows or LSPs based on the destination routing area may be performed by any kind of node that connects to the transit network laying between two or more routing area. The Egress Node 138 operates in an inverse manner, and does de-adaptation (MPLS-to-IP) at the output of the Transit Network 126. Finally, the LSR router 136 simply forward the data packets, based on an Input Label Mapping (ILM) tables provided by MPLS network (not shown). The telecommunications network 800 may further comprise a Traffic Engineering-Configuration Management System (TE-CMS) 850 responsible to find the minimal working topology through reiteration of resource-management topology requests (deriving information from a feedback loop) and that defines the preferred LSPs to be used in given call session scenarios. Regarding the aggregation based on the destination routing area, the TE-CMS 850 may, by way of example, derive from the Transit-Network (Edge-Router to Edge-Router), some current network state information. This is done by reading from Topology and Resource Databases (not shown) of the network 800. Once the network state metrics are acquired, the TE-CMS 850 may run through a constraint algorithm to satisfy the targeted optimization. Therefore, LSP optimization of the Transit-Network accounts for the nodes between Edge node and Egress Router.
With reference being further made to
The routing area update process is completed using known procedures 864-878 as described in the standard Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) TR 23.923 V.3.0.0, “Combined GSM and Mobile IP Mobility Handling in UMTS IP CN”, 3GPP, May 2000), herein included by reference.
According to a further embodiment of the present invention, the second preferred embodiment of the invention related to the aggregation based on the destination routing area may be further utilized for defining and using a Virtual Private Network (VPN) for a given user group. Such a VPN may use the Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) and may be placed as overlay to the MPLS-based tunneling between different routing area, as described beforehand with relation to
According to the invention, the APN may be used to decide to which IP address the LSP is terminated. In addition, the APN identifies the external network by its IP address. Thus, the APN can also be used to determine to which IP address a subsequent LSP from IGSN is terminated. Therefore, according to the invention, a VPN-ID used for the purpose of BGP based MPLS VPN can then be deducted from the APN, and specifically from the Network Identifier part of the APN. The external network referred to, becomes then a VPN to a group of user, as per the VPN-ID used.
Reference is now made to
Therefore, with the current invention, it becomes possible to trigger a VPN path, when provided with pre-defined paths. The information related to the second level layer may be propagated via BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) together with the VPN-ID routes. The LSP paths are the same as previously described except that they are not public but rather private because they have a path-to-VPN ID binding established in the FIB of the Ingress/Egress routers. To go VPN path as opposed to non-VPN path becomes an option offered by the Ingress/Egress routers already set to handle Level1/Level2 aggregation paths.
Based upon the foregoing, it should now be apparent to those of ordinary skills in the art that the present invention provides an advantageous solution, which offers data flows aggregation based on various criteria, such as for example based on a QoS class or a destination routing area identity, or a combination thereof. Although the system and method of the present invention have been described in particular reference to certain radio telecommunications messaging standards (for example, GPRS, UMTS), it should be realized upon reference hereto that the innovative teachings contained herein are not necessarily limited thereto and may be implemented advantageously with any applicable radio telecommunications standard. It is believed that the operation and construction of the present invention will be apparent from the foregoing description. While the method and system shown and described have been characterized as being preferred, it will be readily apparent that various changes and modifications could be made therein without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the claims set forth hereinbelow. For example, while the first and second preferred embodiment of the invention have been separately described, it is understood that they can be implemented together, by having a first level of data flows aggregation into one or more LSPs based on the QoS class, and a second level of LSPs aggregation into other LSP(s) based on the destination routing area.
Although several preferred embodiments of the method and system of the present invention have been illustrated in the accompanying Drawings and described in the foregoing Detailed Description, it will be understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiments disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements, modifications and substitutions without departing from the spirit of the invention as set forth and defined by the following claims.
Lemieux, Yves, Marchand, Laurent
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